Kindle Me a Riddle: A Pioneer Story

What is cider before it is cider?
Answer: apples

And what was the wagon road before it was a wagon road?

Answer: a buffalo trail

Constance and Jack and their mama and papa are playing a riddle game that stretches from morning to night, and as they stir up one riddle after another, young readers will delight in puzzling out answers that illuminate the details of daily life for a family of settlers living on the frontier.

What was this book before it was a book?
You can kindle a riddle, too!

"What is a wagon road before its a wagon road? A buffalo trail, long and deep. . . ." So begin the pioneer riddles that Constance and Papaand then Mama and Jack, toospin into a day-long guessing game of common sense and fun. And once the riddles start, they crackle and pop like kindling aflame. Roberta Karims fascinating portrait of early American life is illustrated with paintings brimming with energy and authenticity by Bethanne Andersen and includes historical background notes on the facts behind the riddles.

Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies 2000, National Council fo SS & Child. Book Council

Roberta Karim was inspired to write this story when she discovered that a lakeside road near her home was originally a buffalo trail. She is the author of two previous picture books, Mandy Sue Day, illustrated by Karen Ritz, and This is a Hospital, Not a Zoo!, illustrated by Sue Truesdell.

Roberta Karim lives with her husband and two sons in Bay Village, Ohio.

Bethanne Andersen's first book for children, Seven Brave Women by Betsy Hearne, was a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book and winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award.

The artist received her M.F.A. degree from Brigham Young University and studied illustration in the Masters program at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Bethanne Andersen lives along a river in Idaho with her husband and two sons.

Bethanne Andersen is the illustrator of Bluebird Summer by Deborah Hopkinson and Seven Brave Women, winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book, written by Betsy Hearne. She lives in Boise, Idaho.